Glyn Pickering, an Advanced Practitioner at Derby College Group (DCG) has created, an ‘AI-infused Virtual Mind Palace’ to help students to reduce their anxiety in exam conditions, while providing them opportunities to learn and revise using the latest AI advancements to support them.
The development is seen as being incredibly useful is preparing students for their examinations. By using this latest technology, it lowers anxiety by allowing students to access a virtual version of their exam room and access mock papers and quizzes.
A virtual mind palace is like a mental filing system stored in a computer or digital device. It is a method of remembering things by mentally associating them with specific places or objects in a virtual space instead of a real one. This technique helps Derby students organise and remember information more effectively, making it a incredibly useful tool for learning and memory improvement in a digital environment.
Parts of the resource are co-created by students, and with nearly 4000 views, it is certainly making its mark. It is completely, fully, and freely accessible on the mobile phones of Derby College students.
Students can play psychology-related games, watch documentaries, get feedback on their work via AI, access this week’s course content, receive bespoke resources delivered to their own desk virtually, get directions to their exam hall, and complete a full paper in the room, as well as watch bespoke videos on their course.
Students can listen to songs that are related to their learned knowledge using a mnemonic system that has been developed called ‘Pedagoogoo,’ which they helped create. The resource is a place for learning and creativity, allowing students to explore all the facets of the subject and how they link together, all starting in the familiarity of their classroom.
Glyn said of the project “It is a very exciting project to lead and is truly innovative but allows students to interact with their subject in a way not possible in any other way, it also allows students to explore and develop their digital skills and creativity whilst in an academic context, and it is really exciting to be able to give students the opportunity to experience their learning virtually from any location on any device from anywhere in the world.
“It really helps the students to prepare for further study and the waiting world beyond.”
Glyn is incredibly qualified in his field and is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist, has Europsy Accreditation and is an Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, Currently involved in a number of local and national events to showcase to other educational institutions how they can freely replicate the resource in their own settings, is also writing a paper on its impact, which is due for publication later this year.
As technology becomes more infused in our everyday lives the gap between those who can and cannot widens and we all have to be tech-savvy nowadays to a certain extent. This resource provides students the opportunity to use state of the art technology but utilised in a way that they are familiar with when sat in their class learning and collaborating with their peers.